British Climber James Pearson Makes 1st Ascent Of Sunset Rock's Power Ranger

Monday, December 4, 2017

British climber James Pearson has made the first ascent of the "bold and difficult" Power Ranger at Sunset Rock, planetmountain.com reported.

Mr. Pearson has been traveling around the world for over a decade tacking the most difficult climbs.

The quest has led "initially from his home in the gritstone outcrops in the Peak District to the rest of the British Isles, then to France, Italy and as far as Chad, Japan and South Africa," the article says.

The 32-year-old has just returned from what he described as the "quite simply awesome" Power Ranger ascent.

The article says, "The route owes its uniques to its physical and psychological difficulties - run-out 5.14 R / 8c trad routes are still extremely rare - but also to the innate beauty of the actual climbing. A bold but relatively easy lower wall leads to a good rest, before launching into the headwall with its intense and unforgiving moves. Long powerful reaches lead into an intricate and delicate crux, and then past a run-out power endurance sequence to the top."

It says Mr. Pearson "first tried the line last February and immediately became obsessed with this 'beautiful flowing sequence' " so he returned this fall with his wife Caroline Ciavaldini for the free ascent.

He commented, “This route is beautiful - a single line of holds up an otherwise blank wall. No way around, no way to cheat, you get only what nature has given. The moves are powerful, yet delicate, with an obvious crux but also the chance to fall on any move. The gear is good, the run-out quite big, and provided you fall in a controlled way you should be ok, yet the climbing is awkward, the rope runs behind your legs, and falling off the upper moves would send you exactly in the direction you don’t want to be! I never fell off the last few moves so I can’t say for sure. Perhaps it is safe, perhaps not… only time will tell.”

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